From an interview with Patrick Daniels of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency
By Margaret Henderson
A radon training pilot project funded by a Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD) mini-grant was conducted in Illinois in 2015 to train students engaged in the U.S. Department of Labor YouthBuild program. In YouthBuild programs, low-income young people ages 16 to 24 work full-time for 6 to 24 months toward their GEDs or high school diplomas while learning job skills by building affordable housing in their communities. This radon pilot training included classroom style course work combined with hands-on experience. A local radon professional, the state’s Indoor Radon program staff and local YouthBuild leaders (funded by the Department of Labor) collaborated to successfully train five radon technicians through the YouthBuild program.
The demonstration project conducted in Illinois in 2015, with classroom style course work combined with hands-on experience, leveraged the state’s State Indoor Radon Grant (SIRG) funds and Department of Labor funding to successfully train five radon technicians through the YouthBuild program.
Patrick Daniels of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) Radon Program explained how combining the efforts of Youth Build, which teaches construction skills, with coursework in radon mitigation, resulted in five students passing the state technician exam and two already being hired as a part-time mitigation technicians.
“Radon mitigation is a growing industry, and with technician salaries in the $20.00 per hour range in Illinois, radon technician training is a good opportunity for youth who want to enhance their construction skills,” Mr. Daniels explained. The project indicates that YouthBuild programs in other states may be able to provide job skills to youth and develop radon mitigation workers.
This demonstration project was conceptualized and conducted through the cooperative efforts of:
- United Methodist Children’s Home - Mt. Vernon YouthBuild;
- American Lung Association of Illinois;
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Headquarters staff;
- U.S. Department of Labor representatives;
- an Illinois licensed mitigation professional with Allied Radon Services, Inc.;
- IEMA staff; and
- CRCPD E-25 Committee on Radon, a committee chaired by Patrick Daniels.
Illinois’s demonstration project involved YouthBuild of Jefferson and Marion Counties and the Youth Build program at the United Methodist Children’s Home in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.
Mr. Daniels noted that the design for this demonstration project made some modifications to the standard approach to training in order to tailor the course to the YouthBuild program. The typical classroom style course of intense training on consecutive days was changed to approximately 2.5 hours sessions taught three days per week over a three-week period, with hands-on training coordinated with topics that were taught in the morning sessions. This better accommodated the students’ schedules and developed their skills over a longer period of time than the typical course duration would have allowed.
In partnership with the American Lung Association of Illinois, whose course material was used, staff of the IEMA served as instructors. Mr. Calvin Murphy, of Allied Radon Services, Inc., a licensed radon mitigator in Illinois, served as the hands-on instructor and licensee. “The work was done on a totally gutted house that was being refurbished, so it provided elements of rehabilitation as well as construction,” Mr. Daniels noted.
After training was completed, the Illinois licensing exam was administered in two one-hour exams and all five students passed, with grades ranging from a high of 94 to a low of 74.
“Several advantages can be realized by both the students and prospective employers,” Mr. Daniels commented. “The students take the state exam, so that when they have passed, they have already proven they qualify for licensure once the application fee is paid. This eliminates uncertainty and expense for employers who are hiring unknown workers.”
Melinda Lewis, of the Illinois Radon Program and one of the instructors, will present the findings from this project at the 25th National Radon Training Conference, September 20-23, 2015, in Bloomington, Minnesota, so that personnel in other states may become involved in further development of these kinds of projects. For information on this conference, visit http://www.crcpd.org/Radon/25thNationalRadon/.
For further information on the project, contact:
Patrick Daniels
IEMA Radon Program
(217) 782-1325
patrick.daniels@illinois.gov
United States